Roosevelt Lake

Spring weekends are always tough getaways for us. Spring time in Scottsdale is unmatched - so many fun events and the most beautiful weather. It's hard for us to justify leaving the sunshine to spend the weekend in the snowy cold. We decided to head up to Roosevelt Lake for the weekend and it turned out to be our favorite campsite yet… (sorry Stoneman, you’ll always be in our hearts as our first).

We had a later start Saturday morning than we had hoped, but I guess that’s what happens when Friday happy hour extends to all night. We headed out highway 87 and took 188 down to Roosevelt Lake. Once we got down to the lake we started looking on the right side of the road (south side of the lake) for a place to camp. We found a dirt road that headed up a small hill towards the surrounding mountains and we decided to take it. Our goal was to find a spot that both overlooked the lake and had the snow capped mountain in the background.  We found a spot that we thought was going to be a perfect one, but it was tough to find somewhere level for the truck. Casey went to pick up a rock to prop under the tire to level the truck, but when he picked up the rock under it was a scorpion ready for action. He promptly dropped the rock and said “Nope, next site”. We drove back down because there was a slight turn off that looked like it might have some good hidden spots and we were able to find a nice flat spot off from the road that had a view of the lake as well as the mountain. I must admit, this was probably our favorite spot yet. The spot was beautiful, open, quiet and CLEAN. I can’t tell you how long it had been since we had shown up to a campsite where there was no broken glass or trash in the fire ring or some type of clay targets sprinkled throughout the ground. It was amazing.

We set up camp and snacked on copious amounts of cheese and crackers. Did you really go camping if you don’t snack on cheese and crackers at some point?! It was sunny and 65 when we got to the campsite and Casey and I decided we would set up the tent without the annex. It made the already easy set up of the roof top tent even easier…. I didn’t even know that was possible?! The clouds started to roll in for the night and I made dinner while Casey set a fire, but unfortunately dinner was a total flop. We all know I struggle with breakfasts but usually make up for it with my dinners, not this time though. I am not sure what went wrong, whether it was using oil instead of butter, or just not being familiar enough with cooking in the cast iron pan. I had tried to make chicken and gnocchi in a white sauce. But the gnocchi was dry and the sauce was waaaay too salty. Oh well, I will have to try to perfect it at home before giving it a go again. We sat around the fire after dinner and were given the most beautiful sunset we have had in awhile. It made everything so perfect. We headed to bed, but not before getting in two episodes of Game of Thrones (gotta prepare for the new season OK?).

Temperatures dropped as low as 32 that evening but sleeping wise we were comfortable. We definitely are going to add a mattress topper to the tent to try to make it just that much more comfy. The bedding that is in there now is comfortable but we find that when you’ve slept in the same position for a long time you start to able to feel the hard floor underneath. The size of the mattress is not standard so we will have to try to custom make one on our own. Stay tuned for how that turns out! Casey let me sleep in and boy did I sleep in. I didn’t get up until about 10:45 but it was much needed. As always, Casey greeted me with a cup of coffee and I got breakfast started. For breakfast I had pre-made a breakfast casserole on Friday night that all I needed to do was throw on the stove top and let it cook for 30 minutes. It was delicious. Two camping trips in a row where I nail breakfast?! I am starting to like this trend.

After breakfast Casey and I played many rounds of bean-bag tic tac toe. This is honestly one of my favorite camp games. So simple and yet can keep us entertained for a while. I also would like to add that I won like 80% of the time. We went for a walk in hopes of making it to the edge where it dropped off but there was no clear path and I was not about to walk in tall grass with possible rattlesnakes! We hung out around camp before packing up and heading back home. On our way out we were probably a quarter mile from our campsite with our windows down as we rode past the distinctive rattle of a rattlesnake. We immediately parked the truck and my first words were “WHERE’S YOUR CAMERA?!” and I hopped out to take a look. Low and behold we found a Western Diamondback ready to strike only a few feet behind us. We tried to get the best photos we could without getting too close but he quickly took off back up into the cactus behind him. Definitely topped the weekend off and also made us aware that we will need to be very careful when we go back. Which we will be back soon I am sure. Close to home and clean with beautiful views, how could one not want to go back?!